26th Oct. '11

Esther Dyson is a journalist and commentator on emerging digital technology, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. Currently, Dyson is a board member and active investor in a variety of start-ups, mostly in online services, health care/genetics, and space travel. Dyson has also been a board member or early investor in several tech startups, among them TrustedID, Cygnus Solutions, Flickr, del.icio.us, Eventful, Netbeans, Powerset, Systinet, ZEDO, CV-Online, Medscape, Medstory, Meetup, Valkee and Vurve.

In this interview Esther Dyson gives profound insight on the generation gap, cultural differences and problems with globalization. ‘’Human NATURE doesn’t change, but the expression of it does’’ states Esther when asked about GENERATION gap. The younger generation’s NO FEAR attitude may allow them to thrive in the digital world in comparison to the more cautious older generation. Yet this over confidence should start to ring some alarm bells since unlike a computer, real life doesn’t have an undo button.

Esther goes on to discuss cultural differences, specifically between Russia and China as well as many misconceptions surrounding them. Though it is still on a small scale, digitalization in Russia has provided a never before experienced level of transparency. ”WHILE IN COMPARISON TO CHINA RUSSIA IRONICALLY IS MORE TRANSPARENT’’. According to Esther China is more brittle where are Russian culture is more passive and fatalistic.

”What we need to do in terms of globalization isn’t so much dealing with other cultures, it’s dealing with our own reality.”